Sick toddler extremely sleepy, normal?

[Pinkstuffs]

My DS 16 months woke up this morning with a high fever over 39, gave him Calpol and Nurofen as the Calpol didn’t bring down his temp. He went down for a nap about 11.30 and he’s still asleep. Is this normal? He usually only has a couple of hours. Should I be worried he’s too sleepy?

Is he rousable? If you touch him, does he reposition or squirm?

I would want to wake him up and give him a drink at this stage. It is normal to be more tired if they're poorly, but you need to make sure that he's responding fairly normally when you wake him.

It can be normal for young kids to sleep for hours when they're ill but at this point I'd start gently waking him as he'll need at least a drink soon. If he's difficult to wake or if he's floppy or not responding when you wake him you'll need to see a doctor today I think.

When mine had RSV, they fell asleep mid nappy change and realllly didn't want to wake from naps. That was the point I took them to the GP.

As PP says, being tired is not a problem, but you want to be able to wake them and have them respond for at least a bit between naps, try to get some fluids in them.

Thanks for the advice. His fever still wouldn’t shift with the Calpol and Nurofen combo so I took him to the gp this morning and he has tonsillitis. This is the fourth time he’s had it in the past year!

I hope he's feeling a bit better today. Poor thing. Tonsillitis 4 times in a year! I've been really lucky that my DD isn't prone to tonsillitis.